As2O3 Up-regulates the Autophagy of RPMI 8226 Cells Induced by Beclin-1

Abstract

To explore the autophagy of RPMI8226 cells induced by As(2)O(3) and its possible mechanisms. RPMI8226 was incubated with different concentration of As(2)O(3) for different time, and the inhibiting rate was calculated by MTT method. The autophagic rate of RPMI8226 cells incubated with different concentration of As(2)O(3) was determined by FACS. The change of cells ultrastructure was observed by transmission electron microsopy (TEM). After incubation with different concentration of As(2)O(3), the expression of Beclin-1 on RPMI8226 was detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. Different concentration of As(2)O(3) could significantly inhibit the proliferation of RPMI8226 cells (P < 0.05), and the inhibitory effect was in dose- and time-dependent way in a certain range. the autophagic rate increased with the increasing of drug concentration and prolonging of action time (P < 0.05). TEM results revealed a typical autophagosome in RPMI-8226 cell treated by As(2)O(3) for 48 hours. Beclin-1 was up-regulated in RPMI 8226 cells when treated with different concentration of As(2)O(3) for 48h (P < 0.05). As(2)O(3) can induce autophagy of RPMI8226 cells, and the mechanism may be associated with the upregulation of Beclin-1.